After Smiles And Death
by StrawberryPika
Summary: P3 Minato/Ryoji. The boy who should have been incapable of love, his prince who everything stemmed from, and every calm smile in between. Everything, so natural, like it was meant to be... MAJOR SPOILERS up to the end of the game.


_**ATTENTION BEFORE YOU READ,**_

_There are a lot of skips in this story. Anything bold is like a location/time/scenario skip. Same with italics. If it's written differently, assume a skip._

_Author's Note_:_ What is this. What is this. Hmm.. I don't know. It's Minato/Ryoji, thats for sure. I think it's a big pile of jumpy, skippy nonsense, and honest to god, I'm not very proud of this piece. But there's such a lack of Minato/Ryoji out there, I couldn't help but post it. That, and P4 is late in coming down here, so I'm just dying as I wait for it._

_So everyone. Post Minato/Ryoji stories so I can stop posting this stuff I don't feel pleased with. Kay?_

_Warnings: Boyslove, gay relationships, cute kissing, death, and... well that's about it. If homosexuality bothers you, escape while you still can._

* * *

_**Death**_.

_Words, striking harder than physical words and pain-_

The transfer student smiled sweetly from his desk, giving a friendly wave to the boy he barely knew. A friend of his friend – a friend of Junpei's – but someone he had found himself closer to than one should have been with how long they knew each other. They had barely spoken, barely connected, and yet somehow, Minato felt like he knew a lot about him.

"_**I am Death."**_

_And he smiled ever so sadly, a heartbreaking expression that tore every strong Persona in his mind in two-_

"I don't really remember," he scratched the his mole absentmindedly, blue eyes wandering to some place in the sky. The question had been what he had done last summer holidays, while the group chatted away on their favorite vacation spots. He couldn't recall a single one, but the lack of memory didn't worry him; he just acted natural. "Must have not been that important, you know?"

**Death.**

_**Death and Nyx.**_

_**The Appraiser of Nyx.**_

_And the leader watched the Shadow's best friend break and shatter; loosing the one that held him up when he lost his entire world to that man – lost Chidori to Takaya. His pillar of strength, the one boy that he clung to for support in those days... He watched that anger and hate begin to bubble up. He watched everything and knew everything, but he couldn't say anything._

_He, too, was broken._

The nights together had been few. It had really initiated with just walking Ryoji home once, when Junpei was being chewed out by Yukari and everyone felt uneasy about leaving the teen to walk home on his own with all the Shadows and Apathy Syndrome and Strega. So Minato graced him with his company, and somehow they had a million subjects to talk about. On and on, they spoke as if they had known each other forever. They didn't talk about the past or the present; it was almost as if they assumed the other knew that already. That they knew every aspect of each other's lives down to the very last detail. Like they had walked hand and hand through it all.

Like Minato's life was Ryoji's life, too.

They were calm smiles; sweet smiles, carefree smiles. Ryoji couldn't help but grin. What was this? Joy? Well, certainly, that must have been what it was, but it was silly to ask.

He was happy.

_**Death.**_

_**Death, Death...**_

_**DeathDeathDeathDeath--!**_

One night turned to two, and two nights turned to three...

And yet somehow, Ryoji never saw into his room.

_Until that fateful night, the night he demanded he be murdered_-

One particularly clear night they lay on their backs, Ryoji's head in his own hands and Minato's head on Ryoji's shoulder. It was an awkward position, somewhat embarrassing, but Ryoji insisted it was fine, and the two of them stared up together into the black, star-lined abyss of the night sky.

"You just feel complete, don't you?"

"... huh?" Minato mumbled, shifting his head a little on the boy's collar bone.

"Aww, am I talking nonsense?"

Minato didn't respond. He just casually glanced up at the cheek beside his eyes; the boy that was there by his side.

"But you feel it, right? Like this is where you should be?" One of Ryoji's hands pulled itself from the tangles of black hair and grass, settling on his own chest where his steady, beating heart was. _But it only beat physical things, like the things humans should have had to survive. Not emotions. Never emotions. Not anything but blood and physical life._ "I feel... like I was meant to be around you."

The boy of Potential became flustered, but forced it down with willpower. "... it does feel unnaturally comfortable."

"More than comfortable."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I don't think I know what word I'm looking for..."

Love, maybe.

_He sat on the bed, expectant eyes awaiting his sentence. He knew what he deserved, what he should have gotten, but there was no way the other boy could deliver it._

_He was a part of him. A literal part of him. He grew up within him, learned humanity within him-_

_He was **his**, not something belonging to Nyx!_

_Maybe that's why it hurt so much._

Minato's hands were warm and made Ryoji feel connected to the real world.

"_**Kill me."**_

He felt like he was a part of him; yes, this was love. He was sure of it. Every smile, every happy moment, every little thing they did when Junpei's eyes strayed off to something else more interesting...

Everything of Minato was intoxicating, dragging him further and deeper into him. It didn't feel weird, though; it felt like he was supposed to be there all along. Like he had been there.

"_**No."**_

"..."

"I love Minato."

"R-Ryoji..."

"I think I love you, Minato, so I don't care."

"S-speak normally."

"I can't get enough of you."

Minato, painted red straight through his face, was cut off quickly and efficiently by little pecks on the forehead and fingers dancing circles on his open palm. That and the smile – the calm, carefree smile – and the overabundance of feelings that made it seem like it was okay.

".. why?"

"... I feel like I need to be a part of you. I... feel like you're half of me. I need you to be complete."

"You're so..."

"Hopeless?"

"No."

_Familiar._

_Bizarre._

_Wonderful._

"... this is what you do to all the girls, isn't it...?" The Persona User mumbled, turning his head a little away, stained with that embarrassed blush.

A chuckle. "Same to you?"

"Nn."

"_**Kill me."**_

Ryoji wanted to go on a date. He wanted to live in the dorm. He wanted to pick the same college and the same line of work. He wanted everything to fall into place so that he could remain by Minato's side, even though they had barely known each other for three weeks, and they had barely _involved_ themselves with each other for five days. It was quiet and kept from prying eyes, but somehow the dark-haired mystery of a boy found ways to his deep blue haired partner, no matter when.

"Doesn't this place look nice?"

"Mm, it does."

"Why don't we go there? A date! A real date."

"... alright."

"Next weekend, alright? Promise me, alright? That you'll go there?"

"... alright. I'll be there."

"I'm glad!" A chuckle and that same smile.

The entire conversation had happened with each other a mere inch away from the other's lips, noses touching affectionately, like puppy love. The lobby of the dorm was silent, absent of anyone save the infatuated pair. Homework was pushed to the side and a flyer boasting a cute cafe in the middle of the city sat in between the two of them, beside the fingers that were laced with the other's.

"_**I'm not human. Kill me."**_

"_**I won't."**_

_He did go that weekend. He really did. He sat down and he ordered his food, in a booth beside the window. In that cute little cafe – the charming place, nestled between a shopping mall and a small boutique. A couple sat a few tables away from him, laughing cheerily and enjoying each other's company._

_And by the time that the waitress returned with his drink, he was face down, head in his hands, breaking into quiet tears at the sight of the bench at the other side of the table being completely empty._

"Let's go to the same school, alright?"

"_**It will only bring you pain."**_

"After this first date, I know this great place by my house for a second one. It's expensive and..."

"_**It's not just my decision.**_

_**It's their's as well."**_

Smooch.

"You're everything, Minato."

All the words that were uttered...

All the feelings that seemed to develop within the span of a few days.

It hadn't really been a few days, had it?

Years and years... that was how long it took for that affection to grow. Ten years. It wasn't something either of them could have understood; Death was supposed to be lacking in emotions, and his prince should have been incapable of loving such a beast.

Every emotion that Death possessed was because of him.

Every feeling was Minato's fault.

Every bit of love was his.

"_**... well,**_

_**I can't make your decision for you.**_

_**It's a pity, but..."**_

And even at the end of it all, even after that monstrous creature sharing Ryoji's appearance, after everything was sacrificed and said and done,

even as Minato closed his eyes at the end of it all

he knew that in that eternal dream he was to fall into his Ryoji would be there.

Never Death, because there was no Death.

Only Ryoji. And he'd always be smiling.


End file.
